Sad Smiles
by Riddlestyx
Summary: After the defeat of Apocalypse, Logan decides to call in an old friend from Japan to fine tune the X-Men's skills. But Logan's 'human' friend, Shippo, appears to be hiding something. Rated T for swearing and violence.
1. The New Guy

Hey! This is Riddlestyx, and this is the second story that I started. I say started because I don't know how to update (WAAAAAAAAAAH!). So if you like this story or my other story, "The New Recruit", check my profile and e-mail me how to, or I can't give you any more stories. Enough of my whining now. Read and please enjoy! All rights go to the original owners.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

"Logan, are you sure about this?" Scott Summers asked the shorter man leaning against the wall.

"Shades, I taught you how to use your powers and I taught you some hand-to-hand, but there are some other things that I can't teach you. The martial arts that I taught you were child's play. The guy I called knows more than I do, and he has experience working with people with powers." Logan grumbled. This was sixth time Scott had asked him that, and it was really starting to piss him off.

"Logan, I trust your judgment, but from what you say, Shippo Higurashi can't speak or understand English. That may be problematic if he plans to train the students." Xavier said in concern.

"He's a quick study and I'll translate until he's fluent." Logan growled through gritted teeth. _What the hell has Shippo got up his sleeve? He speaks perfect English! If this is some sort of freaking prank, I'll skin the idiot alive!_

"When does he arrive, Logan?" Ororo asked, speaking for the first time.

Logan checked his watch and grimaced. "Now." He answered, turning and leaving Xavier's office.

Shippo glanced up at the gate in front of him before jumping over it. He knew that he could have been seen by someone in the mansion in front of him, but he didn't feel like waiting. Besides, nobody had been watching, so his human façade would last for some time before somebody discovered. Anything out of the ordinary that happened would be ignored, thought to be someone else's doing. Logan had said that all these kids had powers, and some were pranksters.

"**Hi Shippo**." Growled out a voice in Japanese.

"**Hello Logan**." Shippo replied in Japanese, giving a smile to his friend.

"**Why is it that we are pretending you don't speak English**?"

"**This way they'll speak more freely around me, since I don't understand it."**

"**Well this better not last long, I don't really feel like translating for you."**

"**Oh, relax. This won't last long at all. Trust me on this one."**

"**That's what you said last time, and I woke up three days later in some roach motel in Louisiana!"**

"**Oh will you just let it go, already? That was 5 years ago!"**

"**Fine, forget it. We've got company."**

Shippo turned, and he had to admit, there were a lot of kids there. Men and women, boys and girls, black and white and blue. Shippo had to admit, they were a pretty colorful group.

"I see our new teacher has arrived." said Hank in a pleasant tone of voice. Shippo noticed the anxiety in his smile, like he was worried about something. He was about to ask Logan about it, when he notice the same expression on the other blue mutant, Kurt. _They must think that I am going to be scared of them_, Shippo realized. They _were_ the most different looking of the bunch, but their auras were pure. _Better put them at ease._

Shippo smiled and bowed, greeting them in Japanese.

"Um, why was he, like, bowing to us?" asked one of the girls uncertainly. _Kitty_, Shippo thought, recognizing her from one of the pictures that Logan had sent him, although she wasn't wearing the pink blouse that she had worn in the picture. Instead, she was wearing a dark red button up T-shirt, fitting for the beginning of September.

"It's standard greeting in Japan." Logan growled, his eyebrow twitching already.

"What exactly is Shippo's mutant ability?" Scott asked, sizing up the red haired man. He looked more like some starving artist you would see out of a movie, not like a fighter. The man (who couldn't have been much older than Jean and himself) looked like he could have been a mutant; his coloring was nothing like you would see in Japan. Higurashi had long red hair going down his back in a ponytail and bright green eyes.

"I guess I forget to tell ya, but Shipp ain't a mutant." drawled Logan, the corners of his mouth twitching a bit to keep from laughing. Logan knew that Shippo was a kitsune, but the others didn't have to know that.

"WHAT? HOW THE HELL IS HE GOING TO BE ABLE TO TEACH US ANYTHING IF HE ISN'T A MUTANT?" Scott yelled furiously. "WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE LIKE MAGNETO ATTACKS US? HOW WILL HE BE ABLE TO PROTECT HIMSELF? HOW DO WE KNOW HE ISN'T FROM THOSE FRIENDS OF HUMANITY GUYS?"

_I see why Shippo wanted to keep quiet now_, Logan thought, _Summer's is so high strung, I should have seen this one coming._

"_Scott_!" Jean gasped, surprised at his outburst, just like everyone else.

The yard had gotten very quiet. But the mewling of a cat and the soft laughter coming from Shippo broke the tense silence. Everyone turned to stare at Shippo, wondering what he was laughing at. They were all surprised at what he did next.

"You see, Logan? This is why we were pretending that I don't speak English." Shippo laughed. Everyone stared for a moment before they caught on to what Shippo was talking about.

"Nice." Bobby said, sounding impressed with the prank.

"Professor Xavier." Shippo greeted the younger man (not that the Professor knew that). "It is a pleasure to meet you; Logan speaks most highly of you and your students. He also says that your students need some extra training."

"Yes, and Logan claimed you were experienced in such areas." Xavier replied, smiling pleasantly. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you two come to meet?"

Shippo grinned and (just for the hell of it) gave the X-Men a very brief look at his sharp teeth before hiding them again with his illusion. But before he could open his mouth to tell the story, Logan stepped forward and decked him!

"It's not a kid's story." Logan hurriedly mumbled.

"Are you seriously _that_ embarrassed? Everyone gets drunk at least _once_ in their lives." Shippo snickered, rubbing his bruised jaw.

"This sounds interesting." Tabitha laughed.

"I don't know if it's interesting, Boom-Boom, but it sure was funny." Shippo agreed.

"How did you know Tabby's name?" asked Jamie, the youngest of the X-Men.

"Logan sent me some pictures, that way I don't have to deal with memorizing all of your names." Shippo chuckled before turning back to Scott. "You know, I'm pretty sure the earth isn't going to swallow you up if you talk again, Mr. Leader."

Scott had been quiet since his outburst, horrified that he had insulted their new instructor.

"Seriously, Mr. Leader, you have got to calm the hell down; otherwise you'll fly off the handle and make yourself look like a jackass. Like you did just now."

Another stunned silence followed Shippo's statement. They were shocked at his language and bluntness.

"So, are you going to tell us how you and Logan met or not?" Rogue asked suddenly.

"I'll forget about the Louisiana thing if you forget about how we met." Said Logan in an almost desperate voice.

"What Louisiana thing?" Scott demanded.

"Five years ago we went for a beer run, and when we drank it later, we both got very drunk, and Logan woke up 3 days later in some random Louisiana motel." Shippo reminisced cheerfully. Logan looked stricken.

"What's so embarrassing about that?" Ray asked.

"We had been in Canada." Shippo explained, smirking at the expressions on their faces. "Now then, are we going to stand out here all day, or should we go inside?"

The X-Men all shook themselves and mumbled quick apologies. Shippo had caught them all off guard, he looked and acted a bit like a frat boy, but even after humiliating Logan like he did, Logan hadn't threatened him, but seemed to respect him, as if he were an equal. His eyes, a few noticed, held a careful, calculating look, as if he were looking for threats and possible escape routes. Despite his attitude, there was no playfulness in his eyes, not like Bobby, but they seemed….tired. The same kind of hardness that Logan had in his eyes.

"Yo, Kirara!" Shippo suddenly yelled. An off white cat with huge orange eyes and black patterns across her fur hopped up onto his should. There was a series of "aaaaaws" and "oooooooooohs" from the girls, squealing about how cute it was. Shippo smiled, remembering how Kagome had reacted the exact same way when they had first met the cat demon. And he almost burst out laughing at the idea of the kids' reactions if they saw Kirara's demon form. _But then again_, Shippo mused, _they may not react like that, considering all the stuff they've seen with that whole Apocalypse deal._

"This is my cat, Kirara, she's been trained, so don't worry about her making a mess or anything. Don't ask me what breed she is, I don't really know." Shippo assured them. _Yeah, it was definitely a good idea to put a spell on that collar I got her. It may have raised some weird questions if I brought along a two-tailed cat._ "I wouldn't have brought her along, but I don't trust the few friends I have to not end up killing her, by accident or not."

"They would kill a helpless cat?" Ororo asked in surprised horror.

"Maybe, though, in Kirara's case, it could be an accident, because they like her, but what the hell do I know, I hardly ever see them. Besides, they have this tendency to be stupid and violent."

"Ahem, Mr. Higurashi, Logan told us you could teach the students how to mix their abilities and fighting skills more efficiently. How do you plan to do this?" Professor Xavier asked, intrigued by the idea.

"Well, Logan didn't tell me what all of your students could do, so I'll have to create an individual style of fighting for each of them. Until I do that, I think that I'll just toughen up, and get a basic idea of what they can do." Shippo explained, completely professional, all teasing gone. He yawned and grimaced. "Damn jetlag, Professor, I hope you don't mind but I was wondering if I could rest for a while?"

"Of course Mr. Higurashi, Ororo will show you to your room."

"Professor, my name is Shippo; Mr. Higurashi is my great-grandfather." Shippo said in amusement before following Storm up the stairs.

"Okay, was it just me or did any of you think he was hot?" Tabitha asked once Ororo had returned.

"Tabby, he's got to at least be in his thirties, if he and Logan have known each other long enough to get drunk when they first met." Rogue said in an all too patient voice.

"Don't jump to conclusions about Shippo. He's a lot tougher than you'd think and he can get really cruel when he's pissed off. He's done a lot of stuff that would be considered illegal." Logan warned the kids.

"Are you sure Logan? He was quite pleasant on the way up to his room." Ororo said doubtfully.

"I've known the guy for a while. He's killed people, he's watched people get killed and he's seen friends and family die senselessly since he was a kid."

"That's awful!" Jean gasped, looking horrified.

"Just don't bring it up if you can help it, otherwise he'll get back at you."

"Y'know, the best way to talk about people behind their backs is when you know they're out of earshot." came a bored voice. Shippo was leaning against the railing of the stairs and looked vaguely annoyed.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Logan sighed.

"I was drawn back down here by the sound of you telling everyone my heavily edited sob story."

"How long have you been up there?"

"Goth-Girl was saying something about me being in my thirties; how that was the only way we could have gotten drunk together. But just to set the record straight, Logan was the only one who was drunk, I can hold my sake."

"Don you need some help or are you capable of falling asleep on your own? Cuz I'm happy to assist."

"Nah, I'm good. But before I leave, I think is should warn that I going to be a terrible influence on you kids, because I will drink, I will swear, I will smoke cigarettes, and I will probably be seen walking around without a shirt on. And guys, that shirt thing only works if you know you look good without it on." Shippo stopped talking suddenly.

"That it?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Shippo turned and left the room.

A few minutes passed in silence.

"I guess I also forgot to mention that he's weird as hell?" Logan asked nobody in general.

"Yeah, you definitely forgot to mention that." Scott deadpanned. "Anything else we should know?"

"He likes to play pranks."

"It's starting to feel like we're getting another student rather than an instructor." Hank observed.

"Not for long you won't." Logan said with a smirk.

Wow, ten pages! Hope you liked it; I've been working on it for a while. If you liked it, tell me how to update it, because then I can write some more! Please review!

P.S. My computer has been screwy lately, so even if someone tells me how to update, it may be awhile before I do so.


	2. Crazy

What's up people? Happy New Year. Thanks for the reveiws guys, but Red Dragon, STOP GIVING THE READERS HINTS, DANG IT! And I'm sad to tell you that pretty much everyone from Inuyasha is dead, minus the younger looking demons, so Kagome will not take part in this fic. Please don't kill me for this, but I'm trying to make Shippo a little angsty, because his friends (minus and the wolves, Kirara, and Sesshomaru) are all dead, cause humans can't live 500 years, at least not in this fic. This is taking place after both of the series ended, and I'm sticking with that, although some other characters will join the X-Men, ones from Inuyasha. Also, Shippo will be really crazy and it will seem like he's a split personality, but considering his childhood, what do you expect? That's all I had to say, so all rights go to the original owners, and please enjoy.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

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* * *

**

Shippo tossed himself down on his bed, sighing. Those kids... It made it hard to believe he had once been like that, so innocent, despite having been through so much.

Scott was kinda high strung, but he was clearly trying to take care of the other kids. Tabitha was a real wild child, so she would probably be fun. Jean was Little Miss Perfect, even if it was unintentional. Jamie, reminded Shippo a little bit of himself when he was young. He was the youngest, and he would always be thought of as a kid, it would take some time before they took him seriously. Kurt was clearly a lot more sensitive about his looks than he let on, as was Hank. Ororo was hot AND classy. Kitty was a bit naive. Rogue was tough as a tough as nails. Xavier was to kind hearted and idealistic for his own good. Bobby was too immature, Roberto too cocky, Ray too impulsive, and Shippo wasn't too sure about Sam just yet. Amara was pretty shy, so she balanced out Tabitha's boldness, for the two girls had all but been attached at the hip.

They were all so easy to read. Or was it just because he was so old? Older than Logan, even, whose earliest memories were from World War II.

Kirara mewed to him, worried. _I can even read her, and she's a cat. Yeah, it's weird even thinking it. _How long would he be able to stay here, before they started to notice things, like how he never aged? Or would he screw up, let them catch him doing something that no human could ever do? Or maybe they might take off Kirara's collar? How the hell would he explain that she had two freaking tails?

_Kami, why am I thinking about this already? I_ just _got here, and I've never been caught before. I could stay here a good 3 or 5 years before they noticed that he hadn't changed._

_Yes_, agreed a nasty little voice in the back of his mind, _but you always kept to yourself before, now you're staying in a mansion full of people who will see you every day._

_Oh, shut up, you're being paranoid, _Shippo retorted.

_And you're going crazy in your old age, you're arguing with yourself, baka, _the little voice snickered.

"Yep, definitely going nuts." Shippo muttered to himself, causing Kirara to mew in agreement.

* * *

Yeah, this was a short chapter, but it's a quick peek inside Shippo's head. Please review!


	3. Dinner

Hi...that's all I got to say. Read, enjoy and review, all rights go to the original owners.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

**

* * *

**

"So is Mr. Higurashi going to come down for dinner?" Jean asked.

"Relax, Red. He'll come down on his own." Logan replied.

"What, talking about me again?" Shippo laughed, walking into the dining room. "Again, only talk about people when they're out of hearing range. Like Logan here, only talk about him if he's gone off on one his little road trips, cause God knows how good his hearing is."

**"Screw you, Shippo." **Logan snapped.

**"Aw, you know you love me."**Shippo said, smiling cheekily.

"Vhat are you two saying?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, nothing," Shippo said cheerily. "Just a friendly conversation between two friends."

Logan snorted and unsheathed his middle claw. This caused some raised eyebrows, because it seemed that Shippo was able to get away with making fun of Logan, and didn't fear for his life.

"Mr. Higurashi, what are your lesson plans?" Charles asked.

"Firstly, it's Shippo. And as for my lesson plans, I'm going to start by testing your limits. I want to see what you can do." Shippo replied with a smile.

"Well, we're pretty good." Bobby said arrogantly.

"Let me be the judge of that." Shippo said coolly. Shippo's eyes had hardened like jade and were just as cold. "Don't get cocky, or it can get you killed, or worse, someone else killed."

"How do you know?" Bobby blundered on.

"Frosty, I speak from this little thing called _experience_." Shippo said, sounding as if he were talking to a 3-year old.

"Iceman, maybe you should just shut up now." Scott said, rubbing his temples.

"Yeah, you should probably listen to Mr. Leader on this one." Shippo said cheerily. "Now, I'm more interested in you guys. Logan couldn't bring himself to tell me about you guys. Are you that horrible that he was scared I wouldn't take the job? I know some of you guys are in college now, so lets start there."

"Scott and I are the oldest, we just started college at NYU. Everyone else is in high school." Jean said smiling.

"Jamie's the youngest, he's a freshman at Bayville High. The rest of us are juniors and seniors." Kitty added.

"Who's in what grade?" Shippo asked.

"Kurt and Rogue are seniors, the rest of us are juniors." Amara said softly, not meeting Shippo's eyes.

_She sure is shy,_Shippo thought.

"What are all of your powers?" Shippo asked. "Lets start with Mr. Leader."

"Well, if I'm not wearing ruby quartz shades, my eyes shoot an blast beam." Scott said.

"Got it. Red?"

"I'm a telepath and telekinetic." Jean said smiling.

Shippo nodded and continued to ask around the table. _Thank God for mental shielding._

"I absorb the memories and life force of anyone I touch." Rogue said dully. "When I absorb mutants, I get their powers as well."

_I'll have to avoid that. Poor kid probably has enough issues, she doesn't need mine._

"I can phase through anything and when I phase through machines and stuff, I can make it short out." Kitty said smiling.

"Vell, other than looking like this, I can teleport anyvhere in a two mile radius. And I, um, pass through a different dimension when I do it, so there's smoke that smells like sulfur vhen I come and go." Kurt explained.

"I can make ice." Bobby said, eager to avoid Shippo's attention.

"I'm pyrokinetic." Amara said shyly.

_Pretty shy for a pyro._

"I make time-bombs." Tabitha said with a smirk. To demonstrate, she created one and tossed it to Shippo. Shippo caught it and tossed it up in the air, where it exploded. He grinned, and nodded to the Time-Bomb.

"I get increased stamina from the sun, kinda like Superman." Roberto said with a smile.

_I was wrong. This kid isn't cocky, he's just confident, and there isn't a damn thing wrong with that._

"I guess my powers are like a cannonball." Sam said uncertainly. He never knew exactly how to describe his powers.

"I can multiply myself, or it happens whenever I get hit hard enough." Jamie said.

"Can generate electricity." Ray said.

Shippo whistled. "That's cool."

That wasn't a word many had used to describe their powers. They gave him some odd looks, and he smiled at them.

"Many of my closest friends had powers beyond the norm. Hell, my own foster mother could have killed if she wanted to. And don't get me started on her husband." Shippo explained, thinking wistfully of the old days with Kagome, Inuyasha and all of the others.

"Was he violent?" Ororo asked, concerned.

"_Oh-ho_yeah. Great guy, but the baka was always looking for a fight, it seemed. Whenever my mom got annoyed with that, well...by the time she was through with him, there would be a small crater and Inuyasha would be in the center of, usually unconscious." Shippo laughed. "That was before they were married, of course. And I'm not joking about that crater thing."

"What were her powers?" Jean asked, wondering if it were some sort of telekinesis.

Shippo hesitated. "Her powers were complicated." It was left at that.

The rest of dinner consisted of small talk about school, joking around and teasing Jean and Scott.

Xavier raised his head suddenly.

"Oh, I almost forgot, but with excitement of Mr.- ah, Shippo's arrival, I'm pleased to announce that a new student will be arriving tomorrow from Russia." Charles said, smiling.

Wolverine's eyes narrowed, thinking, _Russia..._

"Guy or girl?" Tabitha asked eagerly.

"His name is Piotr Rasputin, he is 19. However, he will attend Bayville High, because he was unable to finish his highschool career, so he will be in Kurt and Rogue's class." Xavier explained, inwardly smiling at what they would soon realize.

* * *

Yay! I finished it finally! Sorry about it being so long since I last updated, but I hoped you enjoyed it. Now, some of you X-Man fans may know or now realize who Piotr is, but the kids don't know (cuz' they ask him to help save the world, but they never ask his name), but it never actually was mentioned in the cartoon. Please review.


	4. Tagged

Hi, sorry if the last chapter was a little slow, hope you enjoy this one. Read, enjoy and review, all rights go to the original owners.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

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* * *

**

Shippo awoke to the harsh smell of spray paint the next day. He got up out of bed, wondering where it came from. Upon going into the hall, he met Logan, who was sniffing around, literally.

"You smelled it too?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah. I hope it was just one of the kids playing a prank, but I'm probably wrong." Logan grimly replied. He turned down the hall and went down the stairs with Shippo close behind.

When they got outside, the smell got stronger, leading them to outside of the gate. Both men growled when they saw the graffiti.

Demons. Freaks. Monsters. Muties. Those were the kindest terms sprayed on the smooth, tan stone.

Shippo swore.

Logan swore _violently_, unsheathing his claws.

"I had planned on starting the kids' training this morning, but they don't need to see that any more than they have to." Shippo said sadly. Five hundred years and humans still hadn't changed a bit. Anything different was to be punished. _The others would have had a fit._Shippo blinked in surprise at that thought. The others were dead, they had been for over four hundred years.

"You could use the danger room." Logan pointed out. "Besides they can handle this, it's happened before."

"Nah, I slept in as it is, there isn't enough time for it, they have school." Shippo sighed. _Wow, you'd think I wouldn't value the educational system, listening to Inuyasha whine about it being a waste of Kagome's time._ Shippo was shocked, he kept thinking about _them_, when he worked so hard not to.

"I'll wake up Chuck and Ororo, they'll want to know about this, you can get the kids." Logan agreed, moving through the gates and back to the mansion.

"Should I tell them about this?" Shippo asked, following the Canadian.

Logan shook his head. "Nah, I'll leave that up to Chuck, he's better at breaking bad news."

Shippo nodded. He smiled to himself. _May as well wake 'em up laughin'. Well, _I'll _laugh at least._

* * *

BAM!BAM!BAM! "C'mon chibis, up an' at 'em!" Shippo yelled, banging on every door with someone inside. "Come on, it's time to get up!"

The effect was instantaneous, the kids came stumbling out of their rooms, looking this way and that for some sort of threat. The most coherent went to Shippo, whose face was extremely solemn.

"Shippo, what's the matter?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Rogue demanded. Shippo fought the urge not to laugh with her hair sticking up all over, reminding him of some sort of gothic bird youkai.

He suddenly grinned at them, surprising them all. "Good morning children! Isn't it a beautiful day?" he asked with accursed cheerfulness.

Everyone gaped at him, before they started yelling at him for waking them up. Shippo smiled. _This brings back such fond memories of being a pain in the butt as a child. Crap! What is it with all of the damned memories? Why can't I just forget? It was so long ago..._

"Hey, hey, hey, you guys needed to be woken up anyways, you've got school." He consoled them. "Now why don't you go fight over the bathroom or something?"

Walking down the hall, Shippo considered what he had been thinking before. _I keep thinking about them, Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Inuyasha. And I keep talking about them too. I normally don't, but since I got here...Could that be the reason? Seeing this odd kind of family, is it bringing back memories of my own? Dammit!_

_

* * *

_

While the kids got ready for school, Shippo went downstairs to meet with the other adults. Scott and Jean were there also looking rather upset.

"God, I thought this was over! We saved the world, can't they cut us some slack?" Scott yelled, furious.

"I take it they know?" Shippo asked, sitting next to Ororo, who nodded sadly. "Guys, I hate to tell you this, but you will always have to deal with this. Anyone who is different from the rest will automatically be blamed, even if they had nothing to do with it, or did nothing. Who knows, there are probably humans out there who don't mind mutants, but they act like they do because they're scared of being ostracized. If they admitted their true thoughts about you, they would go through the same things you do, and some of them aren't tough enough to take it."

The others all nodded. His words rang true, unfortunately.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to call Vivian and cancel." Ororo said sadly.

"Who's Vivian?" Shippo asked.

"My sister, she lives a few towns over with her husband, we've been trying to get together for the past few weeks, but things kept coming up and we would have to cancel." Ororo explained.

"Why are you cancelling this time?"

"Logan has to take Charles to airport to pick up Piotr, the kids have school and Hank can hardly scrub the gate by himself." Ororo explained, surprised.

"What am I, then, chopped liver? I can help." Shippo pointed out, and before anyone (except Logan) could object, he added, "I'm living here, remember? I can hardly play freeloader, 'cuz I was raised to earn my keep."

When the kids came downstairs, they were given the bad news about the graffiti. Their reactions varied from anger to sadness.

"Oh, come on!"

"We _saved _them, for cryin' out loud!"

"This is bull!"

"What a load of crap!"

It took a while to calm everyone down, even with telepathy to be heard over the yelling. Several energies of various kinds were thrown. One of Tabitha's time bombs found it's way into a water jug, giving everyone an unneeded shower. A bolt of Ray's electricity made Beast's fur stand on end. Amara accidentally set Shippo's T-shirt on fire, although he was saved by a blast of Bobby's ice.

Shippo hopped up on the table, with his shirt burnt to smithereens and using a plate as a shield from any more friendly fire. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, causing everyone to clap their hands to their ears.

Shippo smiled pleasantly at everyone. "Alright, I know we are all upset, but this is getting _just a little bit out of hand."_ He motioned to his fried and ice covered shirt, which revealed his muscled and scarred chest and stomach. "You have school, so go get ready, we can all have a nice vent about this tonight." His tone was gentle enough, but his voice held a power that none of the instructors could achieve.

Everyone did as they were told, but there was a solemn silence, unusual for the mornings at the Institute.

* * *

"You take the dining room, I'll take care of the gate." Shippo suggested to Hank.

"Sure, the place was a mess by the time the kids went to school." Hank agreed. "Though I still think you should let me check out your chest, it's a miracle that you weren't burned."

"Eeesh, don't bring that up again. Fireball was practically in tears when Mr. Leader decided to chew her out about it."

"Alright, alright, but tell me if you start to hurt at all."

"Hai."

Hank stared at Shippo, who sighed in exasperation.

"_OK_." Shippo lifted up his water buckets and headed outside.

Seeing the graffiti saddened Shippo. Why couldn't they see that this was where it was all headed? Their children, their grandchildren, they would be mutants. By then, humans would be the hated minority. _What about youkai?_The thought popped into his head suddenly. He thought on it, pulling a cigarette out of his jeans and lighting up. _Youkai,_ he decided,_will probably in between humans and youkai population wise. There are becoming fewer and fewer of us, but it will probably be a good millennium before we fully die out. Maybe we'll be revealed the same way mutants were?_

Shippo sighed and blew out some smoke. It was better not to think too closely about the future just yet. Better to think about the present. He rolled his shoulders and snatched up the sponge from it's bucket and started to give the stone walls the best scrubbing they had ever been given.

* * *

By 2 o'clock, Shippo was almost done scrubbing the walls. He had started with the insults and obscenities first, leaving only colored waves and splatters. The professor and Logan had called to say that Piotr's flight had been delayed, and they would not be back until about 2:30. Ororo had also called to tell them she was spending the night at Vivian's, and she would be back around noon the next day. Hank had finished the dining room hours ago, and came out every half hour or so to ask Shippo if he needed help.

"Do you need any help?" Hank asked, walking through the gate.

Shippo smiled slightly to himself. _Right on time, Beast. _He thought in amusement. He gave Hank an exasperated look.

"I'll, ah, take that as a 'no', then?" Hank asked with a sheepish grin.

"Hai, that is a definite 'ne', Beast-san." Shippo chuckled.

Hank couldn't help but smile. So far, Shippo had shown to be very strange, but with a good sense of humor. He seemed determined to prove himself and not rely on others. But no matter how often the man smiled, his eyes...they were always tired.

Hank was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of a car approaching. He and Shippo turned to see the Logan driving the professor's black car. Logan waved to them, and they moved out of his way so he could drive through the open gates.

"I think you'll like it here, Piotr. You've met some of the X-Men already, and I'm sure some of them will help you adjust." Xavier told the young man kindly.

"Thank you, Professor. But will all of them trust me? I was, after all, an Acolyte." Piotr asked anxiously.

"Yes, but you also help us against Apocalypse. As for you being an Acolyte, you were hardly willing." Xavier pointed out.

"I suppose. Hey, whose was that man outside with Beast? I don't recognize him."

"He is our new instructor. He is an old friend of Logan's and he has come all the way from Japan to fine tune everyone's skills."

"What does he do?"

"Shippo has no powers, he is human."

"Really?"

"Yes, I really am." Shippo said cheerfully, opening the car door for the two men. "The walls should be clean soon enough."

Piotr got his first real look at Shippo. He was wearing a ratty T-shirt and jeans, and a turqouise ribbon held back red hair that went down his back. He had bright, but tired, green eyes, and had a huge grin that showed off white teeth.

Shippo looked down at Piotr Rasputin. He was as tall as he was, but was completely ripped. He had blue eyes, a golden tan, and black hair cut in an over grown crew cut. He wore a white T-shirt, jeans, and brown boots. He seemed a bit shy under Shippo's scrutiny.

"Nice to meet you Piotr." Shippo asked, smiling at the younger man.

* * *

"I hate Mondays." Bobby groaned. School had been way more fun when Jubilee was still there, since she and Bobby had had all the same classes and would pass notes the whole time. Without her there, and being harassed by everyone else, school sucked.

"Bobby, if you say another thing about hating Mondays, I will throw your butt out of my car." Rogue growled. She had been given the used van as a brithday present from all of the instructors at the institute. Unfortunately, now that she had a car and Jean and Scott were attending NYU, she had to drive the others around all the time, which was a major pain in the-

"Hey, guys, the walls are clean!" Kitty pointed out as the approached the mansion.

"Great, I didn't feel like looking at that garbage when we came home." Sam said, relieved.

The moment Rogue pulled into the garage, Kitty let out an ear shattering shriek. "Ohmygosh! We have a new student today!"

"Man, you're right! With all the graffiti junk this morning, we all forgot!" Roberto cried, alarmed.

There was a brief pause, where they all stared at each other in surprise, before they all jumped out of the van, only to nearly be run over by Kurt in his own car.

"Vhat are you guys doing? I could have killed you!" Kurt demanded.

"NEW KID!" the five answered.

Kurt's eyes widened. "Oh man! Ve totally forgot!" he yelped.

* * *

Piotr, Shippo, and the other men of the institute were sitting in the living room, talking about random things, like the weather. Yes, the weather. That was interrupted by the other students-minus Scott and Jean- practically falling into the room.

Jamie, luckily, had been right behind the others and was the first to recognized the surprised looking young man on the couch.

"Collossus!" Jamie cried.

* * *

Wow, that took me _forever _to make, and it is, like, really long. Please review!


	5. Happy Freaking Birthday

Hey, what's up? Now, I may have already mentioned this, but we're going to be getting a new X-Man for almost every chapter. Please enjoy! I own nothing.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

* * *

"So...you're on our side now?" Kurt asked slowly, staring hard at Piotr.

"Da." Piotr said, uncomfortable under the blue mutant's stare.

"So...you're going to be in me and Rogue's class?"

"Da."

"So...vhy are you joining now?"

"Well...this seemed a better choice to dealing with the persecution of mutants in Russia.

"So...vhy did you help Magneto expose mutants to the vorld?"

That pissed off the big Russian. "Because he was holding my family hostage!"

"So...-"

"Kurt, if you say 'So' one more time, I swear I'll absorb ya!" snapped Rogue, who had become extremely annoyed with Kurt giving Colossus a hard time.

"Ah, this brings back such fond memories back when I used to be a pain in the ass." sighed Shippo happily, watching the exchange.

"'Used to be'?" Logan asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Shippo pouted. "You are _sooo_ _mean_!"

Logan rolled his eyes at the kitsune.

Jean and Scott had arrived home from school, and now joined the rest of the students, who were greeting Piotr, some enthusiastically (Jamie, Kitty, Amara, and Tabitha) and others suspiciously (Scott and Kurt).

"Hate to interrupt your interrogation and possible murder Fuzzy, but I'm not too clear on this whole 'he-used-to-work-for-your-enemy-and-now-you-don't-trust-him-for-that-very-reason' thing." Shippo said.

"He used to vork for Magneto." said Kurt, now looking a bit embarrassed for acting so stupidly.

Shippo shrugged. "Did he kill a friend of yours?"

"Vha-NO!"

"What's the worst thing he's done that makes you act like that?"

"I helped Magneto expose mutants to the world." said Piotr, looking down in shame.

"But I thought he was threatening your family?" Shippo asked.

"He was."

"Then it doesn't count, you had no choice."

"There is always a choice."

"What was the alternative to not helping?" Shippo asked looking Piotr in the eye.

"He would have hurt my family."

"Like I said before, _you had no choice_." Shippo said calmly, before turning a hard stare on the students, daring them to say anything about Piotr. Shippo wouldn't make them apologize, they were old enough to do so without the proddings of an adult.

The phone began to ring, causing Kitty to jump up to answer, because Lance had promised to call later.

"Hello?" Kitty said into the phone hopefully.

"Hai, is this the X-Xavier Institute?" asked a nervous sounding woman with a thick accent that Kitty couldn't place.

"Yes..." Kitty answered cautiously.

"I need to speak to Higurashi Shippo." the woman continued desperately.

"Um, ok." Kitty turned to Shippo, who was arguing with Logan about the superiority of cigarettes over cigars. "Um, Mr. Shippo, there's a woman on the phone who's asking for you."

Shippo visibly cringed. "Tell her she has the wrong number or something, that there is nobody here by that name!" Shippo begged, not even bothering to correct her about that 'Mr.' bit.

"Still hiding from your girlfriends, then?" Logan asked with a snort.

"I am _not_ hiding from them- I'm just avoiding them by taking a job in another country and leaving no contact information."

"That sure _sounds_ like hiding." Bobby snickered.

"Um, sorry, there's no Shippo here." Kitty said into the phone.

"But he _must_ be there, he gave me the information! Tell him it's about Souta." the woman pleaded.

"Mr. Shippo? She says that it's about someone named Souta." Kitty called.

That caught Shippo's attention_. Aw, crap, I forgot to call! It's his birthday in Japan_! "Hang on a sec." Shippo moved to the phone with abnormal speed, although anybody who noticed would write it off as concern.

**"Hi Grandma, sorry I didn't call earlier, but there was some stuff going on here, stupid bigots..."** Shippo apologized.

**"It's all right, dear, but I thought you would be the best person to call, grandpa keeps trying to pour 'sacred rice wine' on Souta."** said Hana Higurashi kindly.

**"Why, is that some sort of priest-hood thing?"** asked Shippo, relaxing and smiling at his great-grandfathers antics.

**"During school today, you know today Souta turned 15, a girl at school kissed him...and, well...he turned invisible, and he has been doing so all day."** Hana said the last bit quickly.

Shippo was silent for about 30 seconds. Everyone in the room was watching curiously as Shippo froze completely.

"Shippo?" Sam asked, watching the new instructor nervously. This jolted Shippo back to reality.

"NANI?" he screamed into the phone, making everyone jump.

* * *

_Gods, what is it with the Higurashi's and their 15th birthdays?_

Shippo pondered this as Logan began to prepare the Blackbird.

"Look, one of us should still come, to show Souta what this place has to offer." Scott argued.

"_No_." Shippo said flatly. "That may be procedure, but he's family. This is also probably not how he planned for his birthday. I don't know exactly how Japan has been handling mutants, but doubt anyone outside of his family was understanding about it. He doesn't need a bunch of strangers overwhelming him with all this X-Man stuff."

"Well...why don't you take Kitty? She'll be closer to his age." Scott suggested lamely.

Shippo snorted. "If you want me to take someone with me, go get the Copycat, he's closer to Souta's age, so they'll probably get along."

"Jamie? He's only a little kid!"

Shippo stared at Scott in disbelief. "He's a high school freshman, he's hardly a little kid." He shook his head. _Man, people seem to coddle adolecsents these days. I already had fathers with axes and swords coming after me when I was Jamie's age. _"It doesn't matter, Souta may want to stay one more night at home or something, and there's no need for _anyone else _to miss school. Now, shoo."

Shippo sat in one of the passenger seats in the plane (as old as he was, and he still didn't know how to fly an airplane, military or not), staring down at his hands. He decided to use the time to lose himself in his memories.

He remembered watching his mother those last few days. She had been so sad, everyday going down to the Well to stare down it and sometimes jump down it. Kamis, Shippo had wanted so badly to go to her, hug her, and selfishly beg her to stay, so he would no longer be so lonely. But he didn't. He had sat in the crowd and watched her graduate, listened as she talked with her friends about college and careers. That is, Kagome had listened as her friends talked, because she had no future to speak of. He watched as she went down to the Well, once again, only this time, she never returned, only his grandmother returned, teary-eyed from holding her daughter for the last time.

He had watched it all from the Goshinboku, just like Inuyasha used to do all of the time, observing but never interfering. But now he had nothing to fear, so he had leapt down from the tree, landing right in front of Hana, in all of his demonic glory. Ren had only been a few yards away, but he was able to move at incredible speed for one his age, just so that he could throw fake sutras at Shippo. Souta had come running outside at the sound of his grandfather yelling for Shippo to 'begone'. They all just stared at each other in shock, or rather they had stared at him in shock, he had just stared. Once the stare-fest had ended, Shippo patiently explained who he was, his connection to Kagome, and, by proxy, them. They had welcomed him with open arms, although Ren _still_ threw sutras at him. The Higurashi's had become the closest thing Shippo really had to family.

There were few youkai whose company Shippo enjoyed. Sure, Sesshomaru was OK, because the taiyoukai had a bit of a soft spot for the kitsune, as he had been good friends with Rin until her death. The inu youkai was always willing to help him, because Shippo always repaid him, with his art. Sesshomaru's private home was filled with Shippo's artwork of Rin and Naraku's minions, Kanna, Kagura, and Kohaku, because Sesshomaru had always felt compassion for the wretched creatures. Koga and Ayame would always invite him over, because after they had mated (and Koga had calmed down) their parental instincts kicked in, making them concerned for his mental health. Ginta and Hakkaku were excellent drinking buddies, and whenever any of them felt like hunting, they would take a few weeks off and pretend that nothing had changed in 500 years.

His endless string of girlfriends, however... Shippo shuddered. Best not to think about them.

"Something on your mind, bub?" Logan grumbled. "Not that you need to start talking."

"Just thinking." Shippo said with a shrug.

"About?"

"Do you really care?"

"Not really."

"Then don't bother asking. Now shut up so I can sleep." Shippo snapped, dropping his illusion in a puff of smoke.

Shippo was a full-grown kitsune now, having lost his baby face from when he was a child and his tail had long since grown out, not a pale ball of fluff. His tail, like his hair, was now a bright orange, with a white tip. His feet were now human, albeit with sharp toenails that he had to cut everyday or spend a million bucks on socks. His eyes were still cat-like slits, and, without his illusion, were too large to pass as human, his ears were pointed like an elf's. He had only one tail, and Shippo still didn't know where the hell humans got the idea that kitsunes had more than one. His fingers were tipped with claws, making them seem longer and more slender than they really were. He had also grown into his teeth, making it easier to hide them, unless her opened his mouth and invited someone to look in.

"Wake me when we get there." Shippo sighed, leaning his seat back and putting his hands behind his head. He was asleep in less than 5 seconds, leaving Logan to wonder how the hell he could fall asleep that easily.

* * *

Shippo sighed at the bottom of the Shrine's steps. _Is it just me, or do these steps seem longer and longer everytime I come here? Kamis, I feel old just for thinking that. I've walked up these steps so many times over the centuries...each time wondering if my mother had been born yet._

Logan sighed. "Something wrong?" he grumbled. _Why does he keep spacing off like that?_

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just...feeling old, I guess." Shippo said with brief and obviously fake grin. "Race you to the top, man!"

Logan stared after Shippo, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. The man, youkai, whatever, had always been the life of the party, the guy who could be comfortable in any environment, who would be the most reckless and nearly get everyone involved killed, but in the end they would all be laughing. Now...it was almost as if it had become a struggle to even smile. His eyes, Logan had noticed, which had always been bright and laughing, had faded, dulled with weariness.

"Yo! Logan! Hurry your ass up!" Shippo yelled down to his friend. He had reached the top less than a second after challenging Logan to a race.

It was 12:00 in the afternoon in Japan, 6 hours after they had left the institute, although they were 13 hours ahead of US time. They had arrived at 10:00, but between finding a spot to hide the Black Bird and Shippo's insistence to find Souta a birthday present, a new book on Feudal Japan, and it had taken an extra 2 hours.

Shippo rolled his eyes at his friend's leisurely pace before turning and walking towards the house. But before he could even knock on the door, he heard an all-too-familiar scream.

**"Demon begone!"** screamed Ren Higurashi, his great-grandfather. He was throwing his fake sutras at Shippo, and continuing his mantra of **'demon begone.'**

**"Hello grandfather."** Shippo said, giving his grandfather a weary smile.

**"Oh! Hello Shippo! Are you still growing? How has America been?" **asked Ren, ceasing his 'attack' on Shippo. The old man couldn't make a real sutra to save his life, but what little spiritual power he did have allowed him to be able to sense youkai, added with his failing eyesight, leading to his ritual attack on Shippo whenever he came to visit.

**"Well, I was there barely 24 hours and all I really saw was the Xavier Institute. So, where's Souta?"**

**"Up in his room, pouring over his books, no doubt trying to see if his invisibility is a sign of holy powers."** Hana Higurashi said, smiling as she came to hug Shippo. **"Would that be your friend, Logan?"**

Shippo glanced over is shoulder to see Logan standing a few yards away, looking vaguely uncomfortable. **"Yeah, that's him. So, I take it that Souta just ran home after what happened?"**

**"Yes."** Hana got a sad look on her face. **"The girl fainted when she saw that he had become invisible, so he ran home. When he was visible again, he used a phone booth to call us, and then we called you. When he came home, he immediately went up to his room and he hasn't spoken to either of us."**

**"I'll see if I can get the kid to come out. Why don't you 2 and Logan wait inside, maybe he'll be able to answer more of your questions about the Institute?"**

Shippo removed his shoes upon entering the Higurashi's modest home, immediately going up the stairs, but not to Souta's room. Instead, he opened the door to a very...pink room. Shippo walked to the middle of the room, turning slowly on the spot, inhaling the smells of his mother deeply. He didn't dare touch anything, because he knew Kagome wouldn't like him snooping through her things without her permission. He couldn't help but smile, seeing a room that didn't quite fit his mother. Sure, it seemed like a girl's room, pink and frilly and innocent, but with all she had gone through, you would not expect it to seem so...childish. Shippo smelled again, filling his lungs with the smell of cotton candy (although he hadn't known when he was young that that had been her wonderful scent) before turning and leaving the room and closing the door quietly behind him.

He immediately knocked on the door of Souta's room. No answer. Well, he had tried being polite. He attempted to open the door. Locked.

**"Souta, it's Shippo, open the freaking door before I break it down."** he called through the door.

Souta answered immediately. Souta had changed from when Shippo had first met him. His hair had grown out so he now sported a littel ponytail, just like Miroku. He was now much taller, though not nearly as tall as Shippo, who was a bout 6' 5'. He was no longer wearing his school uniform, but was instead wearing a dark blue button up shirt along with jeans and tennis shoes.

**"Don't suppose you could help me finish packing? The faster we get done, the faster we can eat my birthday cake and get out of here." **Souta asked calmly.

* * *

After a quick birthday lunch and chorus of "Happy Birthday" sung by eneryone but Logan, who seemed extremely uncomfortable, as he wasn't used to explaining stuff to families, Souta unwrapped his presents. They all consisted of books concerning the Sengoku Jidai, myths, and youkai.

After his sister's final trip into the well, Souta had become obsessed with the past, locking himself in his room for hours on end in order to read a new book about it, searching for Kagome and Inuyasha's names.

After that, it was time for them to part.

**"You will look after him, won't you?"** Hana asked Shippo tearfully. Shippo was amazed that she was allowing her son to leave at all, considering having lost her first child already.

**"Of course I will,"** Shippo said sincerely, **"and we'll visit every holiday we can."**

**"I'm counting on you. I don't want him to come home covered in bandages." **

**"He won't."**

Logan had managed to land the Blackbird in the back of the Shrine, hidden from the front, in order to save time taking Souta's bags halfway across the city. Shippo loaded Souta's bags onto the plane while Logan prepared for takeoff, in order to give the young man some privacy to say goodbye to his family. Within 15 minutes, they were in the air.

* * *

"So, this kid is related to Shippo?" Jean asked the proffessor curiously.

"He does speak English, right?" Scott asked cautiously, not wanting to repeat his meeting with Shippo.

"No, he does not, I will have to teach it to him telepathically." Charles explained to the youngest instructors.

"Will he need help catching up to the rest of his class?" Jean asked, "I could tutor him if he needs help."

"I doubt it, Japan has an excellent educational system, and from what I've seen from his permanent record, he has always gotten top marks."

The file in Xavier's hands had a picture of a young man attached to it. He looked to be about Jamie's age, but his expression made him seem much more mature.

"He'll probably arrive a little later today, so you had best get ready for school, and tell Kitty and Kurt on your way out that they can stop trying to eavesdrop." Xavier said with a smile, showing that he wasn't really that bothered by it.

Once they were gone, Xavier looked back down at the file, noting some of his teachers remarks about his near obsession with the Feudal Era, which had reached an all time high in the past 3 years.

_It's probably nothing,_ Charles decided.

* * *

Holy. Crap. I wrote over 3,000 thousand words this time. So I hope you guys liked it, please review!


	6. Raven

Hi, I'm ba-aaack. READ THIS! You guys keep asking questions that I have already answered up here, so start reading my little intoduction thingies. I own nothing, please enjoy.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

* * *

**"Nice place."** Souta commented, glancing around the living room.

**"Yeah. Just stay here, I'll go to the professor. The other students should be home in a few minutes."** Shippo said, going up the stairs to the Professor's office.

Souta settled himself in one of the armchairs, pulling out one of his books. Before he could open it, a familiar ball of cream colored fur hopped up onto his lap.

**"Hi, Kirara."** Souta murmured distractedly before opening his book.

* * *

"So, what? Shippo's nephew or whatever is going to stay here?" Bobby asked Rogue.

"Ah guess so." Rogue said with a shrug as she pulled into the garage.

They walked into the living room, and were surprised to find the boy holding a book, which he seemeed to be engrossed in, in one hand, while he petted a purring Kirara with his other hand.

The boy wore a dark blue dress shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. His hair was long enough to put into a little ponytail. He dark, serious looking, brown eyes, and a fair complexion.

"Hey." Rogue said, getting the boy's attention.

Souta gazed back at them. "Yo." he said, returning to his book.

"Well, he's friendly." Amara murmured sarcastically.

Souta glanced back up, looking confused.

Kurt and the others had entered the room by now, and they were all watching the new guy expectantly. Kurt understood immediately.

"Ah, I bet he doesn't speak English." Kurt surmised. "I didn't either vhen I first came here, the professor had to teach me telepathically."

"Damn straight, Fuzzy." Shippo said, coming down the stairs. **"Souta, the professor is ready for you."**

Souta nodded, standing up, causing Kirara to relocate to his shoulder. Souta gave a faint smile to the other students before turning to his 'nephew'.

Shippo noticed Souta's smile, and Shippo swore he almost had a coronary right then and there. _De ja vu. I've seen that before, not on Souta, though..._

**"Shippo? What is it?"** Souta asked, noticing his startled expression.

**"Huh? Oh. Oh, it-it's nothing."** Shippo said quickly with a smile.

**"Riiiiiight."** _Clearly he doesn't realize that I know him well enough to tell when he's lying, or not telling the whole truth, he's pretty transparent._

When the door opened to Xavier's office, Charles looked up and saw a young man of about 5' 5" enter the room. He immediately reached out telepathically.

_Hello Souta, I am Professor Charles Xavier._ Xavier thought to the young man.

_Hello._

_If you will please sit down, I will be able to teach you English._

_Okay._

Xavier was surprised at how quiet the young man was. He was the same age as Jamie, who would have squirmed and questioned Xavier to no end on what he was doing. Souta, however remained quiet and unmoving as Xavier placed his hands on the boy's temples. They remained in that position for approximately 15 minutes, during which Souta soaked up the language he was given like a sponge. Xavier also noticed that Souta was somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a telepath who could, in Souta's opinion, rummage through his private thoughts.

_I can assure that I have no intention of going through your private thoughts._ Xavier assured the young man.

"You just contradicted yourself by picking up that thought." Souta pointed out, standing up.

"Ah, yes, I am sorry for that, I will do my best to avoid doing so in the future." Xavier apologized with a smile.

Souta nodded. "Excuse me then, Professor." Souta said quietly before leaving the room.

* * *

Shippo finally found what he had been looking for. Miroku's prayer beads. Shippo sniffed them. They still smelled like paper and grass, Miroku's scent. And if he was correct, it was Souta's now.

Shippo cast a new illusion over himself now, one for invisiblity. He walked out of the room, keeping his footsteps light. He walked to the room that Souta was now sharing with Jamie. Shippo smirked slightly. Apparently, since they were in the same grade, everyone thought that they would be exactly alike._ That's got to be some kind of ageism._ The differences were obvious. Jamie's side of the room was cluttered, his dresser drawers were left open, his desk and shelves were covered in knick-knacks and other little toys, his bed was unmade, and there were clothes tossed haphazardly around his bed. Souta had already unpacked and made himself at home. His shelves were loaded with books, mostly history and mythology, although there were a few manga issues there, a few pictures (_all of his family_, Shippo noted, _where were his friends?_), and he was putting his clothes, all neatly folded into his drawers. Most of his shirts, Shippo saw, were dark blues and purples.

Feeling like a complete creep, Shippo moved up behind Souta, and started to sniff him.

_Oh hell!_ Shippo thought, recognizing the scent, running back to his room at speeds that would have made Quicksilver jealous. Once shut up inside his room, Shippo became visible again, and tried to keep his hyperventilating as quiet as he could. He snatched up his ciggarettes and the lighter from his nightstand. Damn, he really needed a ciggarette right now. He went as quickly as he could down the stairs without looking suspicious, but he wasn't paying attention, causing him to collide with Kitty, knocking the girl to the ground.

"Oh, sorry Mr. Shippo." Kitty apologized, as Shippo easily picked her up, realizing a second too late that he probably shouldn't have done that. _Hopefully nobody questions that. _Shippo didn't miss a beat however, righting Kitty once again. "Where are you headed?"

Shippo held up the pack of ciggarettes before stepping around Kitty, who frowned disapprovingly at the pack.

"Those _so_ aren't good for you!" she called after the youkai.

"That's why I'm going outside! No sense in giving you guys lung cancer!" Shippo called back.

Once he had reached the gates of the Institute, Shippo, after glancing around quickly, hopped over the wall. He leaned up against the stone that he had washed not even two days ago, pulling out a ciggarette.

_So,_ Shippo mused, _Souta is Miroku's reincarnation. Huh. I suppose this must be how Inuyasha felt, in a way, seeing Kagome. As far as I've seen, Souta has little in common with the old pervert, apart from looks. But, there are a few things in common between the two. Miroku, despite his faults and his wandering hand, was a wise, learned man. Souta is on his way to becoming the same. Both of them have grown up all to fast, Miroku because of his curse, Souta because...Why has he grown up so fast? Now, how am I going to tell him...SHIT! I can't tell him! Miroku groped and peeked on Kagome! If I told Souta that he hit on his own sister in a past life...I can't even finish that thought. Oh, that is _so wrong_!_

* * *

She watched Shippo stress his new discovery outside of the Institute walls. She had realized as soon as she had met Souta who he was and who he had been. But that hardly mattered. After all, Kagome had once been Kikyo, but that had impacted very little. Why should Souta once being Miroku be any different. Ah, this was why she had not spoken in so long. Much less to stress about this way.

* * *

A raven perched itself on the gate of the Institute. But this was no raven. She was Raven Darkholme, aka, Mystique. She watched the red haired man below her as he gazed at nothing, smoking his ciggarette.

_He is a handsome one. For a human._ Mystique thought.

She was there on Magneto's orders. After that nightmare with Apocalypse, she had had nothing to fall back on, the Brotherhood was with Magneto, her children hated her, she was wanted by the government, leaving only one person to turn to: Magneto.

She had been watching the Institute and its inhabitants for the past couple of days, and she had been hard pressed to keep her current form and not transform and demand to know what Xavier was playing at, hiring a weak human to teach the kids. Mystique hadn't a doubt in her mind that this one, like the rest of his kind, would turn on her children. Maybe then her children would understand that there was no hope for Xavier's ridiculous dream.

But that was hardly important. What was important was Xavier's new 'students'. Rasputin was a lost cause, he'd walked away from Magneto and his Acolytes, and had practically gone skipping to Xavier. But the other boy, Souta...he may have potential. She had heard through open windows that he had come here immediately after his mutation had become obvious. Clearly, his friends and family had reacted badly to this development. The boy would no doubt be resentful, and, possibly useful and malleable. Invisibility was a useful power, not like that fat Blob and pathetic Toad. Mystique would have to watch him closely.

* * *

Shippo sighed. He should probably just go back inside. A breeze came from behind him, bringing with it an unfamiliar scent. Mutant. Most likely female, given the flowery scent. _But not from any of the females here,_ Shippo thought. Shippo turned in the direction of the scent, and saw, on top of the gates, a raven.

_Some kind of shapeshifter, then?_ Shippo remembered with a jolt that the X-Men had a shapeshifter for an enemy. Bringing a ball a crackling blue fox fire to the palm of his hand, hurling it at the bird, who flew away just in time, squawking angrily as she flapped away, losing a few feathers in her haste, her eyes flashing yellow. Shippo watched with narrowed eyes, until raven was hidden within the woods, and bending down to pick up one of the black feathers

"Quoth the raven, 'nevermore.'" Shippo murmured absentmindedly before turning to the mansion. He would have alert Wolverine. He stopped a second later and did a face palm. "Dammit!" _Where did my brain go? Shitshitshit! What if someone saw? The X-Men's enemies will know that I'm not a human! Damn it to Hell!_ Shippo's mental curses lasted about 10 seconds, after which continud his search for Logan.

* * *

Mystique flew away as fast as she could. They had said that he-Shippo- had been a human! _No,_ Mystique realized,_ Wolverine had said that he wasn't a mutant, and there is no reason Logan would say that if it weren't true, he would be welcomed with open arms here._ It seemed Mystique's top priority had changed.

* * *

After a little sniffing around, Shippo tracked Logan down in the garage, working on the X-Van. Shippo kicked at Logan's leg, forcing him to roll out from under the vehicle.

"Need somethin', bub?" Logan asked irritably.

"I wish. I got somethin' for _you._" Shippo held out the feather to the shorter man, who, with a skeptical look at the kitsune, sniffed at it before letting out an enraged snarl.

"Mystique!" Logan snarled hatefully, teeth bared, showing why he was called the Wolverine.

"I figured. And it's just my luck, too." Shippo said that last part quietly, regretfully.

Logan narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?" he asked accusingly.

"I threw a ball of fox fire at her." Shippo admitted, embarassed.

"Good, she deserves it." Logan didn't see the problem.

"Yes, but she can't be so stupid as to think a _human_ can toss fireballs around." Shippo said exasperatedly.

Logan shrugged. "So? Do you really think you can keep it secret for long with all the telepaths around here?"

"I could have kept it secret for several years with my mental blocks! Now that she's seen me do that, she's bound to tell someone, who'll tell someone else, and it will eventually make it's way back here!"

"Calm down, you're jumping to conclusions."

"Jump? Trust me Logan, there is no jumping involved! Not even a hop! A step-"

Logan unsheathed his claws, holding them to Shippo's throat. "Shut up, and stop getting yerself worked up."

Shippo held up his hands defensively. "Fine, fine. But it doesn't change anything. My stay here will have to be shortened, though." He turned to go.

"It doesn't have to be that way you know." Logan pointed out.

"Yes...it does, Logan. I'm poison." Shippo said softly, leaving Logan behind.

* * *

"Logan, why was it that you wanted to meet with us?" Charles asked the adamantium mutant.

The X-Men sat around the living room, while the New Mutants introduced Colossus and Souta to the Danger Room, under Shippo's careful scrutiny.

"Mystique's been hanging around here again," Logan explained, holding up the feathers, "Shippo saw a raven with yellow eyes when he went outside to gun a stick."

Rogue scowled. "Can't she get a clue? Can't she just go away?"

"Apparently not." Xavier said grimly. "She will no doubt attempt to recruit Souta. He doesn't know her, and she could easily sway him."

"Vhat about Piotr? Or Shippo? Vouldn't she try them as vell?" Kurt asked.

"Probably not. She knows that Piotr was with Magneto and defected fro him the first chance he got." Jean observed.

"And she probably already knows that Shippo's human, so he hasn't got anything to worry about." Scott added.

"Probably, I took a look around, and judging by the scent, she's been here for a few days." Logan agreed.

"We must stay on guard, then." Xavier said solemnly.

* * *

"Well, looky whose back!" cackled the Australian mutant, Pyro upon seeing Mystique enter their new base.

Mystique ignored him in favor of going to Magneto's chambers, only to be blocked by Sabretooth, who crossed his arms, baring his teeth, and growling threateningly down at her. Since her return to Magneto's Brotherhood, Mystique was given very little trust, due to her...ambiguous loyalties.

Mystique scowled up at the feral mutant. "I have information pertaining to Xavier's newest recruits." the shapeshifter snapped. Sabretooth reluctantly stepped aside.

Mystique's thoughts turned to the Brotherhood, or what was left of it. After Apocalypse's defeat, Magneto had tracked down Mesmero and bullied him into entering his service. Mastermind had also joined fully, but that was more out of cowardice. All Sabretooth wanted was yet another shot at Wolverine, though Mystique personally thought he was wasting his time, when it seemed quite clear that he would never succeed. Pyro had been brought back because he was powerful, but he was also a weak link, given his questionable mental health and his complete lack of loyalty, since when he was found he had been laughing like a madman at footage of Magneto's 'death' at the hands of Apocalypse.

Mystique snorted mentally. Loyalty was non-existent here. It was only the need for survival that brought them together. Unlike that fool Xavier, _they _would survive, while he would sooner allow himself and his X-Men to perish than to fight back against humans.

Then, of course, there was the younger Brotherhood. Quicksilver didn't give a damn about his father, beyond his 'influence' and 'importance' in the organization. The fool believed that he would become leader of the Brotherhood once his father died, giving him a massive ego. Avalanche was the trickiest to figure out of the younger mutants. He seemed to have no love for humans, but he was willing to tolerate them due to his infatuation with Shadowcat. Toad simply desired a bit of power, enough that he had a few people who would fear him. Mystique contemplated sending Duncan Matthews a gift basket for giving them a somewhat useful pawn, since the idiot had given Toad a certain amount of dislike for humans. Blob was slightly loyal to their casue, since he was not openly mocked for his size. Then there was Wanda. Mystique always got a bad taste in her mouth when thinking about the poor girl. Wanda had been thrown away by Magneto for her lack of control, and when she had gained control of her powers, through Mystique's help in getting her a suitable teacher, her memories were erased and replaced with false love and loyalty to her father. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, though. She was much more stable now, happier, it seemed, and, most importantly, more or less against Xavier. The Scarlet Witch was too powerful to have her as an enemy.

"I assume you have something interesting to tell me if you have returned so soon." Magneto said coldly to her.

"Several somethings. Colossus has joined the X-Men now, and they have recieved a new student by the name of Souta Higurashi, he apparently is able to become invisible. He joined within a day of his mutation becoming active, it seems there were poor reactions to this developement from his friends." Mystique paused a moment in order to gauge Magneto's reaction, which was interest. "The day before Collossus arrived, Shippo Higurashi, Souta's relative, arrived to teach at the Institute. He is, apparently, not a mutant, according to Wolverine, but I don't believe a human could have thrown a ball of blue fire at me."

Magneto sat back. He had long since speculated that there were other species besides humans and mutants that resided on Earth. Perhaps this was evidence?

"Continue your surveillance, but keep a distance. Higurashi has most likely alerted Charles to your presence, so do not approach anyone just yet." Magneto said, dismissing the blue mutant.

* * *

Yay! It's finally done, sorry for the delay, please review!


	7. Priest

Hi, I'm ba-aaack. READ THIS! You guys keep asking questions that I have already answered up here, so start reading my little intoduction thingies. I own nothing, please enjoy.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

* * *

Souta took his place next to some of the other new recruits at the dining room table. He was interested in what the other teenagers would be like.

What Shippo didn't know about Souta was the fact that since he had last seen his sister, he had undergone a dramatic change in personality. He would prefer staying home rather than going to a party, to eating his lunch alone at school, reading instead of playing soccer, something he had loved when he was young. He had become obsessed with the past, with folklore. Even Souta didn't truly realize it, but he had developed an inferiority complex towards his elder sister. Kagome, the powerful, smart, kind, beautiful, legendary priestess of the Jewel of Four Souls. Then there was Souta, who had a snarky sense of humor, and whose greatest achievement was that he had good grades, was moderately good-looking, and was a pretty fast runner. He had nothing on his sister and her accomplishments. Privately, he thought that his mutation was a blessing in disguise. He _had_ to succeed here. He had to be great, just like his onee-chan.

"So - Souta, right?-What do you think of the Institute so far?" asked one of the elder girls, a red-head.

"I've only been here for a few hours, so I can't really pass judgement." Souta deadpanned, wondering how many people were going to ask him that, and also eyeing the red-head. Souta didn't have that much experience with girls, not for lack of trying, but he hadn't really had much luck in keeping a steady girlfriend, as they either found him weird, or they dumped him for 'not paying attention' to them. Despite all of this, he could appreciate a attractive girl when he saw one, older or not. "Sorry, I'm not sure I caught your name, miss...?"

"Oh, I'm Jean, Jean Grey." she smiled at the younger boy.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Miss Grey." He said with a (not that he realized it) charming smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Souta." Jean replied, blushing a bit. _He's very polite, and he's kinda cute in a younger, studious kind of way._

"You haven't even been here three hours and you're already trying to pick up girls? Amazing." Shippo sighed, strolling into the room. "Don't go all man-slut on me, 'kay?"

"Excuse me? _I'm_ a man-slut? You filthy hypocrite! How many of your psycho ex-girlfriends have tried to maim or kill me for info on wherever the hell your hiding from them?" Souta cried, incredulous.

"Eh-heh. Oh, c-come on Souta, not all my exes are nuts." Shippo laughed nervously. _Gods, I totally brought this on myself. I just couldn't resist that man-slut comment._

"Dude, for the past three years I've had- how many near death experiences? There was that Kurumu chick with the claws and the huge breasts, for one. How many guys my age fear the sight of women with large breasts? Then there was that flakey one, Yukari, who was cute if your into baby faces, but she pinned me up against the Tree and started stripping me when she had me floating there! Then there was Ruby-"

"Okay, okay, I will admit, Ruby was a _little bit-"_

"Nothing _little_ about it! She tried to feed me to that giant venus flytrap thing she kept at home! Then there was the ice girl, Mizore, she was the most sane of the bunch, and she tried to _freeze me alive_! She didn't leave until I told her that _you_ had commitment issues, and then she left me there to thaw until grandpa chipped my out. And she stalked me for weeks afterwards! Then there were those sisters with the teeth, Moka and Kokao, they beat me up. Why are all of your girlfriends warped, possesive, sadists? Why do I always get the brunt of your breakups?"

"Um..." Shippo didn't have an answer.

Then came the clapping. Heads turned to Tabitha, who sat near the end of the table, wearing a wide grin and slowly clapping her hands.

"Man, didn't know there was going to be dinner _and_ a show." Tabitha commented.

That broke the tension, and everyone was able to let out, at the very least, a few chuckles.

Shippo grinned, bowing to his adoring audience. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night."

"And those were only a few stories to tell." Souta said with a long suffering sigh before returning to his meal. "Seriously, you have terrible taste in women."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Shippo replied with an eyeroll.

"Shippo, I was wondering when you planned to begin your lessons." Xavier interjected.

Shippo took a deep breath. He'd been considering this since watching the kids in the Danger Room. They were pretty good, but...

"Not for a while." Shippo finally answered. "Don't take this the wrong way, but if I tried to start actually training you in martial arts, you wouldn't last 15 minutes, given the strain this would put on your bodies. In other words, you guys are on the wimpy side. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm going to start by getting you into shape, to see if I can work you to death. Then, we'll see about training you guys. Any questions?"

Bobby nervously raised his hand. Shippo cocked an eyebrow. "Does it look like we're in a classroom, Frosty?"

There was a little chuckling before Bobby answered. "Um, when are you going to start 'getting us into shape?"

Shippo thought for a moment. "Probably this weekend, I don't want send you straight to school looking like you'd been beaten within an inch of your lives. Oh, and this will include all of you, not just the New Mutants." He added this for the 'benefit' of the the teenaged X-Men, who were looking smug or relieved that they hadn't been included in this lecture. That certainly wiped the smirks off their faces. "And just to make sure that you're really getting something out of these lessons, no powers unless I say so, or I'll think of something unpleasant for you to do."

There was a collection of groans around the table, to which Shippo smiled slightly. "Hey, don't complain _too_ much, I _could_ call the dude who taught _me._ He's a sadist, I'm going _easy_ on you compared to him. He would have just tossed you into training without getting you in proper shape, because he's just that evil, I kid you not."

Ororo smiled at Shippo. "He couldn't be that bad."

"No, he's evil. First time he met my mom, he tried to kill her for no real reason, except for being in the way. Course, he's mellowed out over the years and he doesn't kill people that often nowadays."

"Is this man some sort of assassin?" Piotr asked weakly, more than a little worried about the coming weekend.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

This was met with silence.

"No lies, he and I met Logan at the same time at the bar, he tried to kill Logan. I only say try because his healing factor saved him, although he wasn't breathing for a little while." Shippo glanced over to Logan and soothed his friends concerns. "Don't worry Wolverine, I won't tell them what you did to piss off, or in this case, embarass Fluffy-sama."

"Fluffy?" Kitty asked incredulously. "Is that some kind of sick joke?"

"I don't know about sick, but he used to wear this weird fur thing, hence the name. Thank kamis he lost that thing years ago, it looked really stupid." Shippo explained, before adding. "If you guys ever meet him, and hopefully you never will, don't even think about the word fluffy. He really hates that name, and he's far from being a cuddly dude."

"Shippo, why don't you shut up about Sesshomaru before you give everyone nightmares. When I first heard about him, I know I had nightmares." Souta actually had, considering Sesshomaru had easily beaten his hero/brother-in-law, Inuyasha to a bloody pulp and had nearly killed both Inuyasha and Kagome multiple times. Not that he would mention that, of course. Sesshmomaru had really calmed down in the last 500 years, so he was actually moderately pleasant to have around, despite not being a big talker. "But his name does do him justice. Sesshomaru _does_ mean killing perfection after all."

"No offense, but your friends are a bunch of psychopaths." Stated Amara, almost without thinking judging by the way her hands moved to her mouth in shock.

Shippo let out a laugh. "No doubt about that. Hey, Souta-kun, I never saw your disappearing act."

Souta gazed at Shippo, quickly fading from view. Shippo nodded. "Cool." Souta reappeared, with a slight smile on his face.

Jean, on the other hand, was frowning. "Souta, could you do that again for about 10 seconds?" Souta nodded, once more vanishing from view.

Jean stared intently at the spot where Souta sat, as did the professor. After a few seconds of staring, the professor told Souta to reappear. He looked questioningly at the two telepaths.

"Interesting, really. It seems, Souta, that when you disappear, you do so in every sense of the word. Neither Jean nor myself could detect your presence when you were invisible."

"Cool."

The rest of the meal was met with idle chatter. Shippo was now content to stay silent and listen.

"So, Souta, what do you think you'll use as a code name?" Kitty asked, drawing the attention of several others. Souta shrugged.

"Ghost?" suggested Berzerker.

"No."

"Phantom?" Cannonball considered.

"No."

"Ninja!" Jamie suggested excitedly.

"HELL NO!" This was said by Logan, Shippo, and Souta.

"Why not? I mean, ninjas practice the _art _of invisibility!" Jamie insisted.

"I'm not a ninja, though." Souta pointed out, rolling his eyes at his new roommate.

"And you don't _want _to be a ninja. Those backstabbing bastards will be your best friend one minute, and the next they'll be the one who puts a knife through your back." Logan snapped.

"They're deceitful, arrogant poseurs." Shippo grumbled, looking irritable. "I've met more than enough ninjas in my lifetime, thank you very much, and I haven't liked any of them."

"So, I'll say this again; HELL NO." Souta stated, looking downright annoyed.

"How about Priest?" suggested Shippo. multiple people raised their eyebrows, whereas Souta looked speculative.

"That's not bad, and I'm far enough in my training that I can use the title." Souta admitted.

"You're a priest?" asked Boby, looking startled.

"In my language, I am called a kannushi or a shinshoku. But, yeah, pretty much." Souta agreed with a shrug.

"Hey, Souta, I've been meaning to ask you- how did you get out of having your head shaved?" Shippo asked curiously.

"Hahaue helped me convince Jiji-chan that it was against school regulation to do so." Souta said in his continued glancing around at his fellow students. "And relax you guys, I'm a modern priest, so you don't have to treat me any differently. But I think Priest sounds like a good codename."

"Then welcome to the New Mutants, Priest." Bobby grinned.

* * *

That night, Shippo kept his lamp on as he doodled on a scrap of paper at his desk. He had drawn Miroku, that is, what Souta would look like as an adult, wearing a New Mutants uniform. He could hear everyone's quiet breathing and snoring, so he had dropped his illusion entirely. This was something that Logan had not even seen, even if he thought he had. Shippo usually maintained a form of an early twenty something, but in reality, he looked to be in his mid teens, the same age as most of the New Mutants. Shippo rarely took this form, given the limitations thrust upon him by his youthful appearance. The Higurashi's had not even seen it, the people he considered family, his most closely guarded secret. If anyone had ever aske Shippo why he rarely showed his true appearance, or made his illusions closer to why his age appeared to be, Shippo would laugh and tell them it was because it was impossible to get cigarrettes or booze if you looked like a teenie bopper. The truth was it was hard to pretend to be as young as he appeared, especially when one had old eyes like his.

Shippo lifted up the doodle of Miroku/Souta, setting it ablaze with his fox fire, watching it burn. He blew the small flame out, since there was no sense in setting off a smoke alarm and waking everyone else.

Shippo was brought out of his boredom when he heard someone entering the property. _Good, someone to entertain me_. Replacing his illusion, Shippo went to his window, opened it and leapt to the ground, a feat that would have caused damage to a human.

Shippo peered in the intruder's direction, Shippo saw he was either short or a teenager still. He was quite large, and seemed to be wearing some kind of spiked armor. Shippo darted forward until there was less than five inches between himself and the intruder. Up close, Shippo saw that the person was indeed male, and obviously a mutant. He was young, probably about Kitty's age, and with another sniff, Shippo was surprised to find that the boy was related in some way to Storm- not close enough to be a sibling or a son, so perhaps the son of Vivian, Ororo's sister? Shippo thought that Logan had mentioned something about one of the first students going AWOL, and that Logan believed the kid would come back eventually.

Shippo was still walking behind the kid, who had clearly not noticed him, something he made a mental note to help the kids on, it would be damn pathetic if they got killed because they were unobservant. The kid made his way to the front door, which he stared at before raising his hand to ring the doorbell. Shippo chose then to speak up.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Shippo demanded in an annoyed tone of voice.

The kid spun around, looking startled, so startled that he answered the question- sort of. "Uh...no?"

"Well who does, dammit?" Shippo asked in a frustrated voice before grinning at the confused kid. "Name's Shippo Higurashi."

"Uh, Spyke." the kid had recovered and was now scowling at Shippo.

_Oh, great, one of _those_ guys who thinks that they been everywhere, seen everything, and are therefore entitled to be condescending to others who 'have no idea what they've been through,' _Shippo thought irritably, but not once losing his smile. "Well, do you have a real, grown up name, Uh Spyke?"

The kid scowled even further, causing Shippo become even more annoyed witht the kid's attitude. "Evan Daniels."

"Nice to meet you. Just hand tight, I'll duck back inside to let you in, and we can avoid waking Logan up." Shippo darted away before the kid could say anything. A minute later he opened the door for Spyke, who continued to scowl._ Asshole._ "Do you want me to wake anyone up for you?"

"Yeah, could you get Storm?" Shippo nodded.

Shippo couldn't help but feel a tad embarassed going into Ororo's room, perhaps because he didn't know her very well yet. He approached her sleeping form, hesitating slightly before gently shaking her awake.

"Shippo? What is it?" she asked blearily.

"Sorry to wake you, but there's a kid name Evan Daniels sitting in the kitchen, and wanted to see you."

Storm sat bolt up right, leaping out of bed, all but running to the kitchen. Shippo shook his head lightly before returning to his room. _It's official- I am now living in a soap opera. That or some kind of warped comedy._

* * *

Yay, finally done! Hope you enjoyed it, please review!


	8. Little Lost Children

Woot! I am back! Sorry for all of you Spyke and Morlocks lovers, but given Shippo's life, I'd think both would get on his nerves with the 'suffering more than thou' attitudes they have. I own nothing, please enjoy.

English/Regular

_Thoughts/Emphasis_

**Japanese**

* * *

The next morning, breakfast was a very loud affair. Everyone was happy that Evan was back, since he was the youngest of the X-Men, and hung out easily with the New Mutants. Of course, Ororo was on Cloud 9, having her nephew back, and she couldn't wait to call Vivian that her son had come back to the Institute. Charles was pleased to have one of his X-Men back, and he smiled benevolently from his seat at the head of the table. Logan, despite wearing his signature scowl, was clearly (in Shippo's eyes, at least) pleased because everyone else was pleased.

It was all enough to make Shippo gag. Evan's attitude had an underlying arrogance that was really starting to piss him off. Shippo couldn't comprehend _why_ the kid had chosen to live in the sewers with a bunch of mutants too proud and cowardly to ask for help. Shippo hadn't slept on a futon until he was 7, and that was because he had never had one to even share as a child, and he had never known when he would get food next, because while he was quite sturdy, even as a child, that did not mean he had never longed for a nice thick blanket on cold winter nights, or to have as much food as he wanted. Evan could have returned to the Mansion, to live with people who cared for him and would not judge him based on his appearance, and would support him through his changes.

_Didn't the Professor offer them places to live here at the Institute? Why the Hell did they turn him down? Why would they _force _themselves to suffer more? Ugh, humans, mutants, either way I cannot, for the life of me, understand them._ Shippo shook his head slightly._ That kid better lose the attitude, or else he's gonna get some heavy-duty pranking._

"So, Bone-boy, why'd you come back?" Shippo asked, genuinely curious.

Evan scowled at him (again). "Some humans got a little too close to where some other Morlocks were scavenging. The Morlocks got jumpy and attacked them. Those humans didn't even _do_ anything." Evan scowled some more (his face was gonna freeze that way if he kept doing that). "They were just some dumpster divers, they didn't even pay attention to the 'Locks. I had a fight with Callisto over what happened and left."

Well, that just earned the brat some brownie points in Shippo's eyes. _At least he didn't hang around after those guys got too anti-human. After all, someday, those humans, their children, or their children's children, will become mutants. Evan knows that mutants are still, basically, human, so it's wrong to discriminate like that. Now, if only the rest of the world would figure that out._

"What happened to the humans?" Ororo asked, worried.

Evan shrugged somewhat. "Dunno, they ran when I got between the 'Locks and them."

_Okay, the kid's decent enough, but he's still a little jerk. "_Well, at least you came back before Saturday!" Shippo said with a cheery smile.

"Why, what happens Saturday?" Spyke watched the _human _who had recently taken up residence in the Mansion with some skepticism.

"My first lesson." Shippo smiled his patented "Sesshomaru Smile," guaranteed to scare the living hell out of all that see it. Directions: half-close your eyes, make sure your eyes show no emotion, and allow a very small, close-mouthed smile to work it's way onto your face. Voila, the "Sesshomaru Smile." And judging by the paling, shuddering, goosebumps, recoiling, and down-cast eyes, it was working. Awesome!

* * *

Later that day, when all the students were in school, save for Evan, who was in his room with his aunt and his parents, who had driven there immediately after hearing their son was back. Logan was off...doing something, Hank was organizing some lesson plans for homeschooling Evan, who refused to return to Bayville High (personally, Shippo couldn't blame him for that, apparently Evan had caught more flack from the high-school students than the rest), Souta was reading in his bedroom since he had not yet been registered to attend Bayville High, and Charles had sequestered himself inside Cerebro. Leaving Shippo to answer the phones.

At exactly 1:15, the phone rang. Shippo snatched it off the reciever, answering, "Hello, Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, this is Shippo speaking."

"Uh, my-my name is Jubilee, I used to be a student at the Institute." Came a girl's nervous voice. "I decided to come back to the Institute, and was wondering if someone could come to the bus stop to pick me up?"

Shippo blinked. _Well, that's semi-random._ "Sure thing, I'll be there in a bit, keep an out for a red-headed Japanese guy." Jubilee accepted that before hanging up.

Fortunately, Shippo had been given the go-ahead when he arrived to use any of the vehicles if needed, so he decided to take the X-Van. _Why is everything here a play on X? I mean, seriously? X-VAN?!_

As he approached, Shippo mused on the influx of students that the Institute had received over the past few days. _It's probably going to get worse. Former students keep trickling back, as well as old acquaintances to the X-Men. Soon, Xavier will be needing to expand the Mansion._

As he pulled up to the sidewalk next to the bus stop, Shippo's eyes were drawn to the disheveled girl sitting on the curb. She was clearly of Chinese descent, with long black hair and tilted eyes. She wore a bright yellow jacket that almost seemed to big for her, as well as dangling earrings shaped like stars. Apart from the fact that she looked like she hadn't had a shower in a few days, or a good meal for that matter, her entire posture screamed misery. Her eyes were shadowed, and her shoulders were tense and hunched as she clung to the straps of her backpack and duffel for dear life. It was also painfully obvious what had happened: she had run away from home.

_That must be Jubilee,_ Shippo thought sadly. He hopped out of the van and approached Jubilee, whose eyes immediately darted up to him. Fear was clear in her eyes. _Oh, what happened to you, chibi?_

"Hi, my name is Shippo. Are you Jubilee?" Shippo recieved a quick nod. "Well, I'm here to pick you up. Want me to get your bags?"

"Oh, um, sure." Jubilee stuttered, allowing the kitsune to grab her bags before following him to the van. The car was silent for the first few minutes into the trip back. "So, are you a new student?"

Shippo laughed. "Thanks for the compliment, but no. I'm an old friend of Logan's, and I just arrived to teach you guys some self-defense. Oh, and before you ask, no powers here, I'm not a mutant." Shippo explained with a grin.

Jubilee was surprised by that, before mentally shrugging it off. "So, how old are you?"

Shippo had to think for a moment before remembering that the _human_ Shippo Higurashi was 31. In reality, Shippo was about 512, with his birth having taken place sometime in the spring. "31."

Jubilee gaped. _That is one _hot_ 31-year-old!_

_Huh, wonder what's up with her_. Shippo mused before shrugging it off. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you ran away."

Jubilee jerked her eyes back to Shippo, surprised. "How'd you guess?"

"Well, for one, you're a bit of a mess, you called only when you got here, not before, and you say you're coming back to live in the Institute, but you only brought along a couple of bags with you. Those good enough reasons?" Shippo asked smiling at Jubilee. "Are you hungry? Do you want me to swing by someplace to get you a bite?"

* * *

Shippo knew he had forgotten something before going to get Jubilee. What was it? Oh, yeah, he'd forgotten to mention it to anyone else. Of course, nobody was really angry. Pleasantly surprised? Yes. Concerned for Jubilee's welfare? Yes. Somewhat amused by Shippo's flakiness? Yep. Slightly exasperated? Sure. Angry? Nah.

As Ororo was getting Firework (as Shippo had christened her), the Professor dropped a bombshell on them: he had found X-23. Shippo had heard about the girl, who was, in a way, Logan's daughter. Whenever Shippo wondered why he had become less and less fond of humans as the years passed, he'd consider what had been done to the little girl Logan had told him about, and he remembered.

Apparently the Prof had sensed her in Central Park in the middle of the Big Apple, and he wanted Logan to go and get her. Shippo, curious to see the mini-She-Wolverine, had decided to tag along. It took a few hours of searching with their eyes and noses to finally find her. And she wasn't alone.

The girl shared few physical characteristics with Logan. She looked almost Hispanic, with a deep tan, dark brown hair, and dark green eyes. Her stance and movements were another story. The way she moved to show that she was obviously ready to attack reminded Shippo of the way he'd seen many wolf demons move before. Her expression was overtly suspicious and more than a little hostile.

It was the two that flanked X-23 that really shocked Shippo. They had bright, blue-green eyes, fair skin, red-orange hair, fangs that they bared warningly, claws, fox ears atop their heads, and behind them were fox tails, which lashed dangerously behind them. With one intake of breath, Shippo's suspicions were confirmed: they were Kitsune hanyos.

Hanyos were more of a minority now than they ever had been in the past. In the past, humans had been aware of youkai and the hanyos spawned from ningen-youkai relationships. Now, though, humans were in the dark as to just how many non-humans walked the earth, therefore there were few hanyos alive under the age of 50. These kits, though, couldn't have been more than 15 years old.

The first thing that sprang to mind when seeing their appearances were Len and Rin Kagamine. One was female, obviously, from her slightly more gentle features, and less suspicion than her brother, more curiosity, and had stopped baring her teeth. The male was more suspicious, and looked like he was ready to attack at any moment. They were both clad in baggy black tee-shirts, equally baggy jeans, and high-top sneakers. Their hair reached just past their jawlines, and bangs fell into their eyes. They had been roughing it for a while now.

"What do you want?" X-23 snarled at us, the twin claws Shippo had heard of sliding out of her knuckles.

"We just want to talk." Logan said, speaking with much more kindness in his tone than Shippo was accustomed to hearing from his friend. "Mine and Chuck's offer still stands. You don't have to be living on the streets like this." Logan turned to the twins. "What are your names?"

"None of your business!" snarled the male, who Shippo had mentally dubbed 'Len'.

The female, 'Rin', sighed slightly before anwering. "He's Kazuma, and I'm Kazumi Tachibana." the now identified Kazumi explained.

"Zumi!" Kazuma whined, glowering at his sister.

_They look like the Kagamine's, but they act more like the Hiitachin's, from Ouran._ Shippo thought, feeling amused. _She's the seemingly-submissive, more social, Kaoru, and he's the possessive and beligerent Hikaru._

"So, what's a couple of half-foxes and a mutant doing in a place like this?" Shippo asked bluntly.

The three narrowed their eyes at him. "How do you know that, Ginger?" Kazuma demanded, small blue fireballs appearing in his hands, trying-and in Shippo's opinion failing-to look intimidating.

_Ginger? Seriously? That's just sad, how uncreative!_ Shippo took his adult demon form, the false form he used when Logan was around. The twins looked shocked, which made Shippo wonder if they had ever seen a full blooded kitsune before. "Remember, you two were born from both a human and a kitsune. So don't be so shocked to see a full blooded fox demon."

"Uh, sorry, it's just that we've never actually seen kitsune before, all we had to go on was what mom told us." Kazumi explained sheepishly before gaining a solemn expression and explaining further. "Our mother was a human. When she was a teenager, she met a fox demon named Masa, right here in New York."

_Masa? No freaking way!_

"When she found out she was pregnant, she told him, and he had seemed really happy about it, he'd said he was going to marry her. But when he left, he never came back." Kazuma finished, scowling. "Guess he was just looking for a good time, 'cause the minute we came into the picture, he pulled a disappearing act that would make Harry Houdini jealous."

"Mom died in a car accident a few months back, not long after the 'Great Reveal'. We weren't going to chance foster-care, so we high-tailed it."

"Not long after that, we met Laura here, when we were 'borrowing' some muggers income."

_Stealing from muggers and criminals? It's enough to make me cry in joy of the morals displayed by such young kits,_ Shippo thought happily.

Laura?" Logan questioned, looking at the silent X-23.

"Well, she needed a name." Kazumi stated matter-of-factly.

"We just kind adopted her after that." Kazuma finished with a shrug.

"How old are you two anyways?" Shippo asked, needing to see if his suspicions were true.

"We'll be 15 in November, we were a month premie." Kazuma replied.

"Which is pretty weird, since we were a perfectly normal, albeit small, healthy size." Kazumi finished seamlessly.

_Damn, but at least I know what happened now._ "Well, I'm sure the Prof won't mind taking you guys in." Shippo offered. "We're about the only ones in the Institute that know about youkai, so everyone will automatically assume you brats are mutants."

Kazuma looked skeptical of this, but Kazumi looked pleased by the prospect. It was interesting to watch as the two communicated solely through expressions. Kazuma argued, Kazumi argued, Kazuma became receptive, Kazumi coaxed, Kazuma was still antsy, Kazumi held her ground, Kazuma relented, and Kazumi triumphed. All through expression. The secret languages that twins developed were fascinating, and Shippo made a mental note to watch the two, and perhaps study it more in-depth in his 'next life'.

"We'll go, but only if Laura does too." Kazuma said finally. Everyone turned to the so-far silent Laura, who had stayed quiet and vigilant the whole time.

She heaved an annoyed sigh. "Fine."

* * *

By the time the small group returned, everyone else had gone to bed, leaving the three newcomers to comandeer the showers, Logan to have some free time to drink beer, and Shippo to look for that picture...

Shippo remembered Masa quite well. Masa had met him his first time at the kitsune school, and the two had been good friends. The other two kits Masa had first been with had gone their own way, given their more 'conservative' views. Masa had been more liberal and open to mingling with humans and fiercer breeds of youkai, such as wolves, or panthers.

Shippo would be the first to tell you that he didn't like kitsunes that much. Their race were tricksters, they were meant to punish the proud and lofty, it gave them purpose. But their proficiency in magic, beyond simply using them for battle, had turned the foxes into the very types of beings they were meant to punish. Foxes had become lazy, fat, and arrogant, too sure in their own magic and cleverness, looking down their noses at humans for their weakness, at fiercer, stronger demons for their 'mindless brutality'. They disgusted Shippo and Masa, so the two had stuck together. Even after what Shippo had done...that nightmarish century...Masa had stayed by Shippo's side.

Shaking himself out of his too depressing thoughts, Shippo found the picture he'd been searching for. The two sat, in their nautral, youthful, forms, both of them at a height that was considered short, at about 5' 3" (Shippo liked shape shifting to his 'adult' height, which was about a foot taller), both deceptively thin, although quite lean underneath baggy t-shirts. They each had an arm around the other's shoulders, and in those hands were cans of beer, and both were grinning like a couple of idiot teens.

Shippo smiled faintly, remembering how they had conjured up some disturbingly realistic I.D's to get into that bar. Those had been a wild few months, spent enjoying the sights of New York, and going on a rampage of debauchery. And then Masa had met a nice girl, the daughter of Japanese immigrants. Shippo had never met the girl, but damned if Masa never shut up about her. Masa had been just as much a man-slut as Shippo, so the fact the the guy was talking about love was pretty serious. Masa never said her name, because he was well aware of what other demons would do to her, and the less known, the safer she was.

Shippo remembered when, just as their vacation was ending, Masa had shown up, looking like he was on Cloud 9. Apparently his girlfriend was now pregnant, and he was going to ask her parents to marry her, and how he wanted Shippo to be the godfather (she had only been 17, which made Shippo have to quash down how much of a pedo-bear that made Masa). They had been in a small, youkai only bar, and a few of the 'conservatives' had gotten pissed when they heard that Masa had sired hanyos. That had led to a fight with pretty much every demon in the bar versus the two of them. Someone had gotten lucky and torn Masa's heart out. The other youkai had not realized just who they had majorly pissed of. They regretted it when they realized who Shippo was. Masa's killer, some rat-demon ($#&*ing rats), had died by Shippo's hand, and the other demons had left, alive, but with considerably less flesh than they had entered with. Bastards.

Shippo had searched for, but never found Masa's lover, or their children. Shippo could vaguely remember being shot that last night in New York, and he wondered if he had been close to finding Masa's girlfriend. He doubted it though, he had been drinking his sorrows away.

Shippo waved a hand over the picture, removing his own demonic features, but leaving Masa's. He'd show the kids tomorrow. It wouldn't do to leave his friends children believing they had been sired by a deadbeat.

* * *

The next morning, the entirety of the female population of the the Xavier Institute squealed over the twins, who reveled in the attention. Laura was relieved that the attention was diverted from her. When the twins told their backstory of the deadbeat dad, he decided it was time to interrupt.

"I'm afraid you guys only got part of the story right." Shippo held up a hand before the kids could object. "I _knew_ your dad. And he didn't walk out on you guys and your mom, he was killed." Shippo pulled the picture out and passed it to the kits. "Me and him were old buddies, we went to a certain school together. We came to New York almost 16 years ago for a vacation, he ended up meeting your mom, and you guys were born a few months later."

"How'd he die?" Kazumi asked staring intently at the the photo of the two 'young' men.

"You don't want to know." Shippo replied curtly.

"What happened to the guy who killed him?" Kazuma asked, eyes narrowed at Shippo.

Shippo allowed a dangerous, twisted grin to cross his features before answering. "Use your imagination."

His chilling tone and cryptic answer reminded everyone of Logan's warnings of just how dangerous a person Shippo was.

* * *

The rest of the week passed more or less normally, with Shippo easily gaining custody of the twins, after explaining that he had known more than enough about how their talents would work, based off of his knowledge of Masa's talents (at least, that was the official version). Meeting the lawyer getting that taken care of had been interesting, to say the least.

When a man with dark gray/black hair and a black suit entered the Institute, he was met with curious stares. He only raised his eyebrows at the kids before shippo entered the room with a warm smile.

"Ginta, how's it goin'?" Shippo asked grinning at Ginta in a way that made the incognito demon wary.

"Okay, Ship, tell me what you've gotten yourself into this time. You aren't my only client, after all."

"No, but I'm your _favorite_ client!" Shippo replied, grinning like a cheshire cat before dragging the exasperated male into the kitchen, from which Sam and Tabitha were ejected.

When they emerged, Ginta looked pale and like he _really_ needed a drink. "Gods, you are going to be responsible for _teenagers."_ Ginta groaned. "This is just-just- ugh, I'm leaving."

"What's your problem?"

"It's just...I REMEMBER ALL THE KIDS YOU CAME INTO CONTACT WITH, AND I REMEMBER HOW THEY TURNED OUT."

"What are you talking about? I've been hanging around Souta for years, and he's okay, right Souta?"

Souta looked up from the manga he'd been reading with the twins over his shoulder, and stared at Shippo unblinkingly. He stared at Shippo for almost a minute before returning to the book.

Ginta stared at Shippo, his expression deadpan, before shaking his head. "I rest my case. Sayonara."

The rest of the week was normal.

And then Saturday came.

* * *

Hah! Left you with a cliffie! Sorry if this seems scattered, but I just really wanted to put this chapter up before December. I hope you enjoyed enough to review! P.S Reviews are my crack.


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